The Silver Wolf
by PsykoSensei
Summary: All it takes is one horrific event to make a person feel like they hit the lowest they can possibly go. This is no different for a lone Huntress named Weiss, who is forced to survive in Mistrals largest forest region after a terrible accident: but she comes to find she's not alone...and in more ways than she thought.
1. Chapter 1: A Night on the Prowl

All was quiet during the night in one of the most expansive forests in Mistral, snow covered every inch of the landscape for miles around in all directions. A brisk wind cut through the trees, a breeze so cold it felt like small knives cutting your skin. Strange how a forest could be so cold, even during the months of fall...well, the twilight between fall and winter anyway. It seemed all manner of nature was ready to succumb to the bitter embrace of the snow, and to wait until they could be unearthed and bloom once more, brighter than ever.

...At least, almost all of nature.

Where most animals will have already gone into hibernation months prior to the beginning of winter, others did not have the luxury of being able to go long periods of time without food. Rabbits to name one.

A lone rabbit hopped about, its white fur blending in with the snow covered ground as it looked around for food. It paused every few moments to bring its nose up and catch the scent of anything that could be nearby.

The rabbit foraged for some time, but with such little time left before it had to rest for the night there was little for the rabbit to feast on; not even a blade of grass fortunate enough to remain uncovered by snow.

Hop, hop, hop, the rabbit went about. From one edge of a stream, to a rock, to the other side it jumped. It's little legs jolted vigorously to push it along. Hop, hop, hop, it looked around to see what little there was.

A few more hops and a new scent would be caught by the rabbit's little nose. A sweet aroma filled its nostrils, and thus it took to finding the source. The aroma was mellow, like a rich sap from a tree,

And then it finally found something: a fallen branch off a pine. It might have fallen a couple hours ago, maybe a day ago, it didn't matter. The Rabbit took it for what it was worth, and it munched down on the little leaves. In an instant it became oblivious to all other things around it.

What the rabbit didn't realize was that it had left a trail, and that something else was looking for something to eat too.

* * *

A few paces past the stream another animal prowled, her snout low to the ground, gauging the scent that smelled fresh. The tracks were just made, and they reeked of something this animal knew was small. She brought her snout back up into the air, the scent continued on the same way as the tracks.

Paws of fine grey fur stepped light and with care, for her instinct told her that whatever left these tracks wasn't too far away. So she followed them.

The tracks led to the stream, and she could see another set of tracks on the other side, and she could still smell its prey too—it hadn't touched the water. She was hunting something very agile, but so was she, and she was stronger too.

She stepped back a couple feet, and with a running start she made her way to the edge of the stream. She jumped clear over the stream in a single leap, and silently landed on her front paws the second she touched the ground.

Her heart was beating a little harder now, but that only sharpened her focus; her senses were strengthened, and now she could tell the scent was getting stronger. She kept following it, a little more vigorously now, but still trying to keep a careful pace. She knew her prey was very close now.

She kept following the trail for some time, a little ways longer than anticipated but she knew hunts like this could go for miles. Fortunately, she knew this hunt would be short.

Then her ears shot straight up into the air. The scent she'd been tracking was now accompanied by the faintest crunching sound from up ahead. She was very close now, she knew she was.

The prowess of the predator had taken over. No longer was this about tracking; it was about the ritualistic duel that would be the hunt, and then the chase.

And there it was: a rabbit. It was eating, but little did it know that tonight the evergreen leaves it feasted on would be its last meal.

Adrenaline began to flow through her body as she crouched down, eyes dilated, maw forced shut, and even her heart became simultaneously mute and racing. Every muscle was at her command, waiting for the order to be given. As low as her legs would allow she crept her way closer to the rabbit, coming up only a few feet behind it...maybe this would be an easy ki-

*_SNAP!*_

...Or not.

The rabbit paused to look around for the source of the sound, and it's eyes landed upon those of a predator ready to eat it: it was in the presence of a wolf.

The wolf stood absolutely still. It was a game of patience now. Would the rabbit run, or would the wolf be fast enough to take it down? There was no telling, both were as still as statues. The wind blew through once again, shaking their fur, testing them to see who would crack under the pressure of the cold—fear and anticipation was proving to be an immovable force, and neither animal was about to let a simple gust of wind ruin this moment now.

Then one of them broke.

The rabbit took off running and the wolf chased after it. As fast as it's little legs could carry it, the rabbit slipped on past trees, though open logs, across streams, over rocks...anything to somehow outmaneuver the wolf.

But the wolf was not slowed down. She had the rabbits scent, and this would be a hunt that could go all the way into the night if she wanted to, she certainly had the stamina. So she ran, and ran, and ran, her paws hammered the ground harder and harder so she could keep up with the rabbit.

A mound of rocks was in the rabbits path, too wide to go around, and no way through; it would have to climb over. Without a second lost the rabbit hopped onto one stone, then another, and another, until it finally made it to the top and leaped off to the other side.

Again, the wolf was not going to be slowed down so easily. She jumped and flew clear over the mound, and landed on the ground running once more. The rabbit hadn't gained any distance from her, and the wolf knew she was beginning to catch up.

But the rabbit knew she couldn't keep outrunning the wolf forever, so she started to slow down, just enough so the wolf would be ready to sink her maw into its back...but just before then, the rabbit turned and started running another direction. The wolf ended up sliding sideways and tumbling into the snow.

The wolf was determined though, and she scraped her paws at the ground until she was back running again. She'd lost some ground this time, but she would make up that lost ground soon enough.

The chase continued on for a couple miles. Twists and turns at many points, the occasional log or stream or rock to jump over, ice that froze over and made running a complete nightmare, trail bridges, abandoned carts, small openings into chasms underground…

Then there was a ravine; a massive divide between two cliffs, and no bridge to be seen. There was a fallen tree splayed across the drop, nothing else, and the ravine spanned for miles. If the rabbit had any hope of escape, it would have to take the log.

Like the rocks before it the rabbit leaped onto the tree. It was a straight shot to the other side, and so it skipped its little self along while the wolf caught up. Chunks of ice and piles of snow fell off the tree, shattering and breaking up into smaller bits as they hit the rocks below, but the rabbit remained atop the tree.

The wolf had finally caught up, coming to a halt at the edge of the ravine. She scanned the area beyond looking for where the rabbit went. Her mouth was flooded with saliva, small icicles hung from her jaw, only melting slightly by her breaths, which too came out a frozen vapor. What didn't help was the rabbit was there, directly across from her, and starring at her from the other side. She could see the rabbit twitching it's ear, taunting her with unspoken teases of its freedom, and it would take this moment to gawk at her with its beady black eyes. Then the wolf's attention turned to the tree.

She could see the tracks the rabbit left behind, but the wolf doubted she could make it across like the rabbit did. The trunk of the tree appeared rotten and decayed beyond all recourse, only to be staved off by the cold. Regardless, it was worth a shot.

The wolf set its front paws atop the tree, it seemed stable enough, at least at the moment. The rabbit watched as the wolf tried to mimic what it had done, and it's ears fell once the wolf stood on all fours on the tree.

Front left paw; back right paw; front right paw; back left paw. Slowly but surely the wolf stepped along the tree, but she could feel the weak bark give way to her weight. And then…

*_SNAP!*_

In an instant, the wolf used all the strength she could muster to push against the falling tree, saving herself while the dead tree plummeted to the rocks below. Once again the rabbit stood triumphant by its cleverness.

Once the wolf caught her bearings again, it caught eyes with the rabbit once more. She made circles in the snow, plotting whatever way she could think of to get to that rabbit, any way at all that would see this chase end with her having dinner. With the ravine stretching for miles in either direction, and the tree gone, there was only one way the wolf could think of to reach the rabbit again...she would have to jump. One third and final jump.

She stepped back. This jump had to be perfect if she were to survive. Once she was a few yards away, she looked straight at the rabbit; the only thing that mattered to her.

The wolf had begun to run, with even more determination than before, and more power than she thought she could remember being capable of. Her vision caved in on that white rabbit. It was all or nothing now. Adrenaline fueled her primal rage as she ran faster and faster—and when she finally reached the edge...she jumped.

The rabbit watched in amaze as the wolf flew over the ravine. There was no fear in her eyes. There was not a hint of recourse to be seen. The wolf had taken a gamble so immense it was thought she may actually fall.

But by sheer grace, the wolf made it. She cleared the several meters from ledge to ledge, and now she was right next to the rabbit once more.

Of course, the rabbit took off running. The wolf once again gave it chase, now more determined than ever to finish this hunt. She would not give up. She would not slow down. She would not allow this rabbit to escape her. So she kept running, and running, beyond her tiring lungs and aching muscles, she would keep running until her heart beat so fast she could tell if it was pumping blood.

The chase continued on for another mile or two. The rabbit kept trying to turn in different directions to outmaneuver the wolf—but the wolf learned from the first time. The rabbit tried going through the water so the wolf may lose its scent upon getting out of sight—but the wolf kept chasing close, too close for sight to be lost.

The rabbit tried hiding within a log—stopping dead in the middle—and waited for the wolf to pass. Maybe the wolf would give up? The log was not quite as rotted out as the tree back at the ravine, but nothing was certain until the rabbits instincts told it so.

The wolf stopped as well. She knew the rabbit was around here somewhere, and so she sniffed around to refresh the scent—it was still very strong, and the aroma was still present. The rabbit was still here.

She found the tracks once again, and the wolf was pleased to see that the rabbit had indeed not gone too far; it was inside a log. Of course the wolf would try to get to the rabbit again, but she had an idea before then.

The rabbit remained where it hid, knowing that if it started running again then it wouldn't stop. For the longest time it could hear the wolf pawing around, the sounds of rocks being rolled over one another; snow being dug up; some branches being broken it seemed...but the rabbit remained undiscovered.

For a moment anyway…

*_CRUNCH-SNAP!*_

The rabbit nestled itself into a little indent in the log as the wolf began ripping apart its shelter from the outside. Wood chips and snow fell inside while the wolf ripped into the wood with her powerful jaws. The rabbit would try to shrink itself furthermore as the wolf sunk its maw through the new hole she had made, but when that wasn't enough the wolf pulled out and began tearing the edges apart more until it was big enough for her whole head to fit through. The rabbit took its chance to flee as soon as the wolf reeled her head back and come back down with bloodthirsty jaws.

While the wolf tried to figure out what had happened, the rabbit ran out the other end of the log. It thought it was free, and safe to escape. But before it could get too far, the ground collapsed underneath the rabbit, and it then found itself tumbling into a hole. The wolf had made a trap. The rabbit tried to jump out, but the hole was just too deep.

The wolf had since stopped attacking the log after she heard the rabbit sprung the trap. It was a wild gamble that probably wouldn't have worked, but she was glad it did: but she wasn't about to celebrate yet, because she still needed to catch and kill the rabbit.

She walked over to the hole she dug, looking down and observing as the rabbit was trying desperately to climb out. The wolf could feel the fear coming from the rabbit, how afraid it was for its life, being made into another one of the wolf's many prey she had hunted over the years. She knew the ritual to end it though; a swift bite into the rabbits ribs, crush the lungs, compact the heart...it would die fairly quickly, but the pain is all there for that short time.

So that's what the wolf did...and the rabbit gave a quiet squeal as hungry teeth sunk into its soft, furry flesh.

* * *

One of the requirements of stalking the woods for prey was going for miles in search of it. Ending up running all the way back to where your home was...that was a stroke of good fortune. This was no different for the wolf as she carried her fresh catch in her jaws back to her home: a small cave.

The cave was exactly as would be expected for the home of a wolf: small, isolated, and the only real form of comfort was a patch of grass that somehow stayed green in the cold. This was all the wolf ever needed. This was her home.

The wolf made a couple circles around the spot of stone she would rest on as she ate, most habits were just natural—and so was resting on her elbows as she began to tear into the rabbits hide, chewing into its muscle that remained somewhat warm...the wolf savored the oddly soothing flavor of copper of the rabbits blood, still ripe with adrenaline and cortisol from earlier, it took away from the flavor a bit, but it was still satisfying.

The view from the cave was absolutely beautiful. Albeit, the opening was only about fifteen feet up, there was a clearing in the trees that created the perfect view of the shattered moon.

...Almost perfect.

*_NEEEEEEAAAAAOOOOOOOW_…*

Not mere moments after ripping apart the rabbits leg, the wolf would interrupt her meal to look in the direction the sound was coming from, folding her ears down a bit as it was incredibly loud. She didn't know what it was, but it was coming from the sky.

*_CRA-BOOM!*_

Then the wolf stood up the moment she heard the sound of the unknown object making impact. Her instincts kicked in and decided to investigate what had happened—and she took the dead rabbit with her, she wouldn't want to come back and it was gone.

* * *

The wolf followed the distant smell of smoke as she ran between many trees and large rocks on her approach to the crash site. She didn't know what to expect, but she intended to find out.

She climbed up a large rock leading up to a grand view of a spacious clearing in the trees, where there lied the most curious sight to see: a crashed aircraft.

The wolf stood at the edge of the rock in awe at the sight before her. Her jaw would be hanging down if she wasn't carrying the rabbit's corpse in her mouth.

The aircraft was a complete wreck. The wings were ripped from the fuselage, the windshield was shattered, fires filled the inner compartments in rays of yellow and orange, and plumes of black smoke rose from it all. There was a body hanging from the front end of the aircraft, lain through the windshield frame and badly burnt—maybe dead.

The wolf climbed down from the rock, stopping at a nearby tree so she could bury her catch in the snow. She had become wary of the area around her, and anything could happen. Why should a crashed aircraft put her dinner in danger? That was uncertain, the subjects were miles apart, but that didn't matter to the wolf: instinct was instinct, and even in the wake of a much greater tragedy, the wolf wasn't about to take the chance of her rabbit being stolen...so hiding it would be the best bet, the smoke would be enough to camouflage the carcass; two birds with one stone.

She checked on the pilot first, all her muscles tensed and ready to run in the event that something happened. The pilot was dead, the wolf could tell just by looking at him now that she was up close, she couldn't smell his breath for there was none, she couldn't see him blink for he couldn't: but all was irrelevant, because if he was alive then she would know without having to take any of the senses into account. So she moved on.

A different scent caught her attention, one unlike the smoke; a sweeter smell, like flowers…and a faint hint of honey. The wolf circled around the aircraft to find the source of this so-out-of-place smell, keeping her distance from one of the turbines that roared with flames.

Then she found the source; right next to the other turbine was a young girl. The wolf walked up to her, sniffing around to confirm the scent was hers—it was. She only appeared to have some bruises, no burns: but she did have a scar over her eye, which was very curious because it didn't appear to be from the crash. The girl probably jumped out moments before the aircraft crash landed. Besides the obvious list of questions, the wolf only had one question in mind...

_Who are you?_


	2. Chapter 2: 'Who are you'

**[THEN]**

* * *

The acrid stench of smoke filled the air as plumes of black blotted out the sky. Small fires of burning grass and leaves, sticks and trees, and some patches of molten soil were left in the wake of a devastating event.

The sound of a blade swiping through the air came, and the head and body of an Ursa came tumbling down to the ground shortly after. White boots with solid sole heels stepped towards the fallen beast.

The huntress pulled her scroll from her pocket and opened it to the Contracts application, finding the one she took and clicked where it said 'Complete'. Just like that, her contract was done and she'd be paid by the end of the hour, plus a little extra for finding the nest and burning it. (The damage done to the forest was merely a consequence of some Grimm not coming out before the torching.) Overall, if she had to put it to words: it was all in a good day's work.

*_crack..._*

Icy blue eyes widened at the sound of something approaching from behind. Without a moment of hesitation she unsheathed her sword and slashed behind her, cutting down a Beowulf that thought it could outsmart her—it let out the most pitiful squeal at its defeat..._okay, now the job is done._

Not long after the Beowulf and the Ursa (and every other Grimm that was slain for that matter) began to fade away, her scroll began to vibrate in her hand. It was a message from the Contracts Payment Transfer alerts:

_TRANSACTION COMPLETE_

_YOU HAVE RECEIVED: Ł10,000 _

_FUNDS DEPOSITED TO: CONTRACTS ACCOUNT_

A long, tired sigh came deep from tired lungs. "What a rip-off…" the huntress said, dissatisfied with the reward. She had half a mind to contact the person who set up the contract and negotiate for a better reward, but who was she to talk when the mission she took was the highest paying one? That, and she was already on the verge of breaking one-hundred thousand Lien. She'd be lying if she said it didn't feel good making her own fortune her way—it did feel good.

She sniffed the air for a moment, her nostrils stung a little bit at the stench of burnt wood and leaves, the smoke was growing thicker. She looked to see the damage she had done and realized the fire was still burning, and it had grown into a roar. However, she was not alarmed...because she had just the thing for this sort of situation: Water Dust.

With a flick of her wrist she quickly switched dust types in the chamber, landing on the blue vial. With the Dust locked and loaded she pointed her sword into the air, and with her free hand she created a giant glyph above the section of forest that caught fire. The very next moment, she pulled the trigger and shot a jet of water into the glyph, which became a downpour onto the forest fire.

"That's more like it." She sheathed her sword and swept her hair out from her face. It was time for her to return to town, she was done here.

* * *

"Ah, Weiss, welcome back." The innkeeper smiled when she met eyes with her tenant. "How was your mission—good, I hope?" she asked.

"It went well enough, thank you for asking," Weiss said while returning the smile.

The innkeeper nodded. She checked the inn's registry and found Weiss's name. "You are due to check out tomorrow at…" she clicked her name to look at a more detailed file, and said, "six o'clock in the morning. Early bird, aren't you?"

"Only on my good days," Weiss said, "today was one of them." Though it could've been better, though she didn't tell the innkeeper that. Then she told her, "I might check out early, I'm going to get a shower and then start packing—I think later today at eight will be my time to leave."

"Ah, okay, very well." The innkeeper updated the tenant roster to the specified time. "I'll just charge you for the five days you stayed...and...done."

"I'll pay for the sixth night," Weiss added.

The innkeeper looked at her with a mildly confused look. She said to Weiss, "You don't have to do that, we wouldn't want to overcharge you."

Weiss shook her head and told her, "But I want to—the morning breakfasts were superb and I feel it should be well rewarded."

At that the innkeeper smiled. "I'll let our chef know you enjoyed the strawberry toast—that's a specialty of his."

"Tell him to not be afraid of adding more powdered sugar, and all will be fair," Weiss said, then she and the innkeeper laughed.

"I'll tell him that too," said the innkeeper.

Without another word, Weiss waved at her and left the front desk. She headed straight to her room.

* * *

For an inn built in a semi-run down village far south of Mistral, it was nothing if not impressive. Yes, the furnishings could use some improvement, but overall it was a place Weiss wouldn't mind staying at again. The service was good, she always came back to a clean room. one day she came back to find a fruit basket with her name—she detested the thought of it being because of her family's reputation, but she enjoyed it anyway—and every day she walked in to find a towel Dove on her bed.

And there was a towel Dove on her bed now, as a matter of fact. Weiss grinned and let out a silent chuckle, because she hated to have to undo the housekeepers work when she needed a towel for the shower. But at the end of the day, it was just a towel.

She reached up and took out the tiara that held her hair up, letting the once-ponytail fall free and nearly touch the floor. Feeling the weight of her hair pull down on her head reminded her of how many years it's been since she bothered to trim it.

But that was no matter. Weiss set the tiara down and proceeded to remove her sword, her coat (it was getting cold in Mistral), boots, and set her scroll on its charger. She then took the towel Dove and brought it with her to be shower, where it would be undone after half an hour.

* * *

Oh how warm water felt on tired muscles, warm water droplets gently pelted her shoulders and back in a relaxing way. The steam cleared away any blockages as she breathed. As strange as it sounds, it was a sort of freeing feeling, like the ambient functions of her body were allowed to operate without any complication. The warm water brought her temperature back to regular, made a slight headache subside, and it massaged the areas were bruises formed when her aura couldn't entirely protect against hard strikes..._really funny how something meant to protect us can't protect us entirely, _Weiss thought.

She did her usual routine: rubbed herself down with bar soap, rinse, use the rock to scrape off dead skin, rinse, shampoo and condition her hair, rinse. All of the easy steps anyone should be able to do.

When her process was complete she would spend whatever time she had left just sitting at the base of the shower, head facing up and almost starring into the light above, contemplating...about anything really. Much of her thoughts trailed off to her sister and what she might've been doing as of late. Weiss knew Winter dealt with a dispute somewhere in Vacuo, she couldn't remember where though.

But it was no matter, she knew Winter was more than capable of handling whatever was thrown at her. Weiss guessed she was just being the little sister who worried about her older sister. Weiss was ashamed to admit it, but it had been several months—almost a year—since she's last spoken to Winter. The CCT network has been under maintenance for the past month and a half; local news has been saying much of the progress had been delayed due to serious equipment failures in the Vale and Atlas locations, matters that the engineers in charge said would be rectified by the end of the month. In any case, it still meant that any communication anyone would want to do would have to be by letter, or in person.

In the back of her mind, Weiss wondered why she never decided to join her sister. She could've been a specialist just like Winter. She probably could've been a good one too, she thought. But she also couldn't help but wonder if she was really willing to take orders from an annoying commanding officer like a master would command their dog. Just off the fact that she didn't like taking orders was probably the only reason why she settled for being a huntress: but maybe that was all she wanted to be.

_Ugh, water's running cold,_ the thought rang through Weiss's head once she realized the water was growing cooler. Not wanting to wait for the water heater to come back on (as she usually did, because she always wanted to stay in the shower longer), Weiss reached up to turn the knob and the water tapped out. She was left sitting on the shower floor, soaked and cold.

She remained where she sat for just a little longer, just so she could take in the glow of the light that beamed down on her as she had many times before. It wasn't particularly ritualistic, nor was it habit, but rather just a mere act of...something. Maybe something was missing, and she was trying to use the light to see what it was? Or maybe it was just a plain stare into the light, absent mind and conscience while her eyes tested themselves to blink?

And then she blinked. Her body jolted back to reality after the minuscule action, like her body had shut itself down for a moment and only jump started back up. She hadn't done this on purpose, and not by accident. She chalked it up to just being tired after a long day of fighting: and she fought the pain in her muscles as she brought herself to stand and walk out of the shower.

* * *

Weiss felt a lot better after the shower, aside from the aches and pains it was soothing to be free of the filth from hours earlier, like a little weight was taken off her back. So she added a more comfortable weight onto her back, comprised of the clothes she'd wear once she departed from the town: she didn't quite have as grandiose of a selection of clothing as she did five years ago, but she made due with what she could get. She didn't want to wear white, too much of her clothing has been white, and even her own selection of clothing at present was mostly white.

She rifled through to find something a bit more reserved- no, wrong word: something more conservative. Nothing too ostentatious that it would bend the eyes of others towards her. As far as anyone else was concerned, she was only a huntress on her way out from a job—she didn't want to be recognized as a Schnee leaving the town.

Eventually she settled for something that met her standards: a silver-colored jacket with black panels on her shoulders and like-colored stripes down the sleeves, though it still had a white hood. That was no matter, it was mostly not-white _and _it would be appropriate for the coming weather, there's been chatter that tonight and the next few days would become freezing. She joined the jacket with a black and silver scarf, a pair of padded black pants (which had nothing special beyond just thin pads on her thighs and calves in a diagonal stripe pattern, purely aesthetic)...what she decided she'd keep wearing were her white boots she wore earlier, despite her inclination not to: but it would go with her hood, so maybe it was a necessary evil to let the one shade she would rather not wear feel somewhat appealing.

With fresh clothes on, Weiss walked over to the mirror to see how it all looked. To her, it wasn't too bad, but if she could throw some more color onto it she would. All she had was some reds or blues, but nothing that she hadn't already worn. She decided to stick with what she had and worry about her wardrobe after she got home.

Weiss raised her hand to her face, running her fingertips over the scar down her eye. In some way she could still feel the pain: a dull pain marked by marred flesh from a time when she wished she could fight like she can now. Frankly, she was glad she got away from her father when she did—had she not then there probably would've been one less '_Schnee' _in the family.

With a deep sigh Weiss plopped herself onto the bed and stared blankly into the ceiling, once again into the light. Her hands curled in, crumpling the soft sheets beneath her as she unraveled the rest of the tension in her body. She took another deep breath, tightening the muscles in her back...and then releasing all the tension inside.

She checked her Scroll for the time: it was a couple hours past lunchtime, but despite that she was not hungry. All she wanted was sleep, so she set her alarm to wake her up just before she had to leave.

Weiss brought her arms up, and with a single motion she summoned multiple glyphs around the room. With a flick of her wrists she closed blinds, turned on the 'Do Not Disturb' sign, locked the door, turned off the lights...in an instant the room was made ready for a much needed rest.

Satisfied with her new environment, Weiss closed her eyes and drifted off into the realm of sleep.

* * *

Icy blue eyes opened from a short nap. Hours had passed since Weiss had left the inn, and then the town. Now she sat in the passenger compartment of an aircraft she'd chartered a couple hours earlier. Between the nap she took back at the inn, and the nap she just had on the aircraft, Weiss only now realized just how much she needed to sleep.

"You've been out for some time," the pilot said. "You sleeping alright?"

Weiss rubbed her eyes. She figured the pilot must've seen her awaken from the mirror placed just above the windshield, just in case something happened behind him and he didn't have to turn his head. She yawned and said, "I feel like I haven't been sleeping at all."

"I'm sorry to hear that…" said the pilot, though it came out a halfhearted moan.

Weiss could tell he was being sarcastic, maybe small talk was just one habit of his he couldn't seem to quit and he just grew to accept it. She felt could relate. If she had to ferry people to and fro place to place on a daily basis and all she could do was make smalltalk while flying, she'd probably be a bit on the sarcastic side as well.

"So tell me...how does a Schnee walk away from all the money in the world and end up a traveling Huntress living off of each mission she takes?" Once again, Weiss knew he was being sarcastic: but it had only been a couple minutes and she was already bored, so she figured she'd keep talking.

Weiss said, "If you knew the things I did, you probably wouldn't blame me for the choice I made."

"Fair enough," the pilot replied. This time his tone came out somewhat surprised, probably both by the sureness in Weiss's answer and the admission. He thought it would be best not to pry—it was her business, not his. Besides, he's heard some stories too, and what she said might've confirmed a few of them.

Weiss looked ahead through the glass of the windshield, it had become night time a long time ago, maybe close to around midnight. She pressed a button on the bay door, and a hologram appeared revealing the world outside like a window. By the looks of things, they were just about halfway to the north edge of Lake Matsu—they were about a couple hours away and they would arrive at Argus.

*_rum-um-um-umble*_

Then came the turbulence Weiss was expecting.

"We should fly higher—this is my third time going through the gravity islands," Weiss said.

But the pilot ignored the warning and said, "It ain't my first time either—it's only turbulence…"

_How arrogant,_ Weiss thought. "There's more than just turbulence I'm concerned about."

"What...Grimm?" The pilot laughed. "It's turning winter, _icicle, _no Grimm is going to come up this high—not even those flying ones."

"Can't you just fly higher anyway?"

"No can do on that either, companies got us flying at a limited altitude—can't afford the fuel," the pilot said.

Weiss rolled her eyes, it was clear to her now that this guy was neither the real social type nor the smart type—and neither was his company, apparently. But it was his ship, and she was the paying passenger—what more could she do? So with that in mind, Weiss just slumped down in her seat and waited.

The turbulence continued, and so did Weiss's apprehensive instinct to go up to the cockpit and bring the aircraft up to higher altitude. She had half a mind to use a glyph to do just that too—just to tease the pilot—but doing so might very well mean she gets fined, or worse. But she was more mature than that, and she wasn't in the passive-aggressive humor mood either. She just wanted to get to Argus, catch her next flight, and do her job in the next city she turned up in. She thought her next stop should be to Vale, word was going around that the perimeter guard was growing shorthanded due to the Grimm migrating west; Weiss knew there was good money in that, but so would a good chunk of other Huntsmen and Huntresses. Naturally, anyone in the field of hunting Grimm was trained to work well with others, but some preferred to remain lone wolves...and Weiss considered herself as such as well.

_*BUMP!*_

Then something happened outside, and whole aircraft began to shake violently.

"_Shit, _right wing engine is down!" the pilot said as he scrambled for his radio. Once he caught it, he clicked the button down and said, "Maday, maday, this is Alpha-Bravo-Six-Seven, engine failure—I repeat—our right engine has failed, over!" He released the button, but no answer was transmitted. He tried again, "This is Alpha-Bravo-Six-Seven, one of our engines is compromised, we're going down!" And again, no answer. "Damn, transmitter must be down!"

Weiss looked out the holo-window there were no Grimm that she could see, so she could rule out the idea that they were being attacked: but she could see the right turbine was spewing black smoke...she could also see they were just about to hit the tree line beyond the brim of the lake.

"This is gonna be bumpy…!"

*_BUMP/CRACK/BUMP/BUMP…*_

The aircraft's underbelly struck the tops of trees, and the more it hit them to slower it became, the less altitude it had, its weight was the only thing keeping it going and there was still a ton of momentum left for it to spare.

"Schnee, strap in, its gonna ge-"

*_CRACK* _

The pilot was knocked out as the aircraft struck what Weiss assumed was a tall rock, and the windshield had been shattered to peices. She turned on the holo-window on the other side and saw the left turbine was no moments away from falling off its hinges.

Without the pilot to fly, no engines, and clearly no slowing down, Weiss did he only thing she could think of before she met an untimely demise.

Another button pressed opened the bay door, Weiss held on to the safety handle as she looked for a place to jump. Then she found a clearing just up ahead.

She raised her hand, and with a twirl she created a glyph large enough to further slow the aircrafts descent, and another, and another, and another, but even with four glyphs the craft wasn't slowing down.

*_BUMP!*_

"_AGH!" _Weiss's eyes grew wide as she'd lost her grip on the handle. Now she too was falling, but she had about as much control over her descent as the aircraft she fell out of.

In a matter of seconds Weiss's vision went white, then to dark. She'd hit the ground hard, her aura could protect her from the damage but she still felt the full force of the shock that knocked her out.


	3. Chapter 3: A Night of Calamity

**[NOW]**

* * *

The wolf could see the girl before her was still breathing. She was alive! She was unconscious, but she was alive.

But they were both still in danger, so the wolf did what she thought was best and tugged on Weiss's sleeve with her teeth, using all the strength in her neck and legs to pull her away from the wreckage.

She dragged Weiss to the spot where she'd buried her rabbit, here it had to be far enough away to be safe. But to be extra careful, the wolf dragged her so the tree would be between them and the burning aircraft.

"_Mmpff…_"

The wolf's ears flicked up once she heard the moan. Weiss was waking up. Her fear instinct kicked in and the wolf grabbed her rabbit before running to find a place to hide. She took cover behind a large rock a ways away from the tree.

Weiss's eyes slowly fluttered open, a painful ringing in her head as her senses came back to her. She put her hands up to her head and felt a slight bump from where she'd landed; she was glad her aura protected her, otherwise she might have met an untimely end. Once she gained at least some sense of awareness, Weiss looked around to see where she was—and she became immensely confused as to how she ended up lying against a tree and not where she landed. But she would be glad she did…

*_BOOM!*_

The aircraft and it's turbines blew up a moment later. Weiss shielded herself behind the tree as all manner of shrapnel and wild bursts of fire shot in every direction. Pipe, pieces of metal, and burning wood from cargo boxes came falling down everywhere.

Once she thought it was clear Weiss poked her head around from the tree. It appeared most of the chaos was over with; the aircraft was now little more than an oversized burn pit with a metal border. Weiss would've done something about the flames, but she was too busy staring in awe while her mind raced to try and process all that had happened. That, and she felt around her waist but she couldn't find Myrtenaster.

"_Where did it go?" _Weiss looked around the area to find where her weapon might have ended up, but it was nowhere in sight. She had to fight the weakness in her body as she stood from the tree and stumble around the burning wreckage, still disoriented by her ears continuing to let out that painful ring, which was like a constant _beeeeeeeeeeeeeep _that wouldn't cease. It was painful: the aching in her joints, the soreness in her head, the sickening stench of burning jet fuel searing into her nostrils, internal screeching in her ears like a nail on a chalkboard.

The heat from the fire pounded through the cold as Weiss passed by it, she brought her hood up over her head so her hair wouldn't catch by accident. She was glad she chose not to wear a skirt or something too loose, otherwise she'd be in more danger than just being lost in a forest.

Finding her sword shouldn't be so difficult, had her weapon been colored white then maybe she would have some trouble, but the silver metal should've been as easy as picking a rose from a bunch of tulips: but despite this, Weiss could not find Myrtenaster anywhere near the wreckage. She feared it might've been left in the airship.

"_Ugh...where did it go?_" Weiss searched high and low for her weapon, for losing it might as well have been a sin for any Huntsman or Huntress, among other things. Even through the pain of ringing in her ears she could hear her sister saying "How could you be so careless." It wouldn't have been a question, it would've been berating statement—one that would end with a slap on the back of her head, despite whatever excuses Weiss made. Though, deep down, Weiss knew even Winter would acknowledge that this situation she would've lost her weapon anyway; it was simply out of her control...but at the very least she should've kept her sword secured tighter on her waist.

The wolf watched from afar as Weiss scoured the area, by any accounts she figured Weiss would find the rationale to rest and save her strength. She must've been either very strong, or very sure of herself: but in either case, the wolf chose to stay hidden. She saved Weiss, but she didn't know if she was a threat or not...and she had learned for years to trust her instincts for matters like this. So to hide was to be safe, and that's what the wolf would do: hide, and be safe. It appeared Weiss was not a real problem for now, but the wolf had yet to see for herself.

After several minutes to half an hour Weiss decided to call off the search for her weapon. Perhaps it was in the airship, and if that was the case then the fire would die down in a couple of hours. She reached into her pants pocket for her scroll, but was disheartened when she opened it and discovered it had been destroyed.

"_Great…_" Weiss moaned, then her annoyance turned to anger and she couldn't help but to yell, "my ship crashed, I lost my weapon, _and _my Scroll is broken—_could this night get ANY WORSE_?" Then she kicked a loose plate of steel that was laying on the ground—and, to her surprise, she found what she thought was was source of the crash, and she grew evermore angry because of the irony and flat-out dumb luck of it: it was the carcass of a Lancer, shredded like cheese from a grater—but, somehow it was still alive. Then the ringing in her ears had become more intense after the kick, it was so painful Weiss felt like there were needles being shot into her ears, a sharp pain that seemed to resonate with every beat of her heart—and made worse because of it.

The continual pain made no sense to Weiss. Had she hit the ground so hard her aura just completely broke? She thought she didn't even fall that far, nor that fast. Maybe it had been knocked down so low it couldn't heal her as quickly...no, that wouldn't make sense either, if she was healing, she'd feel it all over her. Of course the cold was telling her enough as well, as she stepped away from the heat she felt herself growing colder until she was at a shiver: if she was cold enough to shiver, then her aura had to be either fully depleted or just barely holding on.

Regardless, even if her aura was broken, her ability to take out her anger on the already suffering thing that caused her landing her here was not. So she raised her arm forward, and curled her fingers slowly. One glyph was summoned to raise the Lancer up off the ground, then four more appeared on all sides, and one more just above it. With gritted teeth a wave of anger shot through Weiss's body and into her hand, closing it into a fist—the Lancer was crushed into little more than a puddle of whatever kind of disgusting matter Grimm were made from, and dissolved and disappeared in a plume of black smoke thereafter. This action did nothing to help Weiss, nor did it ease the pain she felt, but at least she was allowed to get it out of her system.

But her anger only drew in another foe.

Just beyond the trees where Weiss was facing, another kind of Grimm revealed itself, this one was significantly larger and far more threatening: an Ursa

There the beast was; the size of its body unyielding, marred with scars and remnants of spearheads, arrows, and other pieces of weapons sticking out from its hide along with the many spikes that grew out from it. A true nightmare to behold to anyone who looked upon it.

The Ursa stood up on its rear paws, and let out its horrific roar…

"_ROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!" _

The ground almost shook as the Ursa ended its battle cry, then the ground really shook as it landed back and returned on all fours, it's weight caused mounds of snow to fly in every direction. A fearful Weiss jumped back to avoid being blinded by the oncoming debris.

The wolf wanted to run, her instinct told her so, but she also wanted to remain and observe; to see what else Weiss was capable of. If nothing else, she wanted to see it she was really a threat.

Weiss readied herself for the onslaught that was going to come her way. With no weapon, and only a sliver of aura, she knew her chances were slim—but she was nothing if not good at thinking on her feet.

The Ursa charged at Weiss, its powerful paws made the ground shake as they pounded the ground, pushing the beast at full force forward to close the distance between itself and its prey. With wide open jaws, the beast intended to eat Weiss in one bite.

But Weiss wouldn't let herself be beaten so easily. As the Ursa drawn in, Weiss summoned a glyph and the next moment she jumped so high into the air she nearly scaled the trees. Her jump was joined with her back arched backwards, sending her into a slow backwards flip which landed several feet away from the Ursa...and Weiss had time to do something else too while she was in the air.

White mist trickled down from the sky, not unlike snow, but much finer and more plentiful. A similar but different substance was on the tips of Weiss's fingers too, and it was red: Burn Dust.

With the hand that didn't have dust on her fingertips, Weiss summoned a large glyph in front of her, then she twirled her wrist and fingers and the glyph began to spin like a saw blade. In the same moment, Weiss snapped her dust covered fingers and set the glyph aflame.

Once again, the Ursa charged at her. She let it come near her this time, and just before it could touch her she thrust her arm forward, throwing the now fiery disk at the Ursa: it hit the beast dead on in the head and sent it flying backwards and through the falling white dust.

But the Ursa was not dead yet, not after landing on its massive weight, the attack only made it angry. It rolled over and back onto its paws, but aside from the snow it's fur appeared lighter than before.

Weiss took out another vial of dust, this time a yellow color, and she could feel the hairs on her arm begin to stand up. She dusted the tips of her fingers with the new dust, and without any glyphs Weiss snapped her fingers once more: a lightning bolt shot from her hand the moment her two fingers touched.

In the same instance, the Ursa was struck by the bolt of lightning, and then the dust already on its fur activated. In a matter of seconds the dust began forming layers and layers of ice, freezing over the Ursa and redeem it immobile.

But Weiss wasn't done yet: she took out the vial of Burn again and dusted her other hand with it—her right hand was starting to hurt from the two previous times—once more the created her fire disk and lobbed it at the Grimm. As soon as the dust struck the beast was reduced to little more than shards of ice, only to dissolve into ash moments later. The threat was gone...

...But so was Weiss's aura. She knelt down and began to pant for breath, her aura flickered as it tapped out, it couldn't support her stamina any longer, nor the kind of combat she forced it to endure. This compounded with the pain her head was in, as well as the rest of her aching body.

But it was no matter, she was just glad there was enough left for that confrontation. She looked at her hands, which were coated in soot and ached from the raw power of the dust that surged through her fingers. Had her aura been broken prior she might've seriously hurt herself—thankfully that wasn't the case.

The wolf witnessed what Weiss did, and now she felt her fear was justified. She would make it a point to stay out of sight and keep observing. Yes, Weiss defended herself, but what would she do if she saw the wolf?

With the Ursa out of the way Weiss thought she might continue looking for her sword, but after all that has happened she was only tired, and she would not want to stay here any longer if there were anymore Grimm around—nevermind the cold, but she was shivering more now than a few minutes prior. All this, compounded with the fires of the aircraft beginning to die down, told Weiss as much that she needed to find shelter more than she needed to find her sword. And she now had a headache that might as well have felt like she had a rail spike through her skull.

* * *

Walking away from the aircraft might not have been the best choice in Weiss's opinion, but she thought of what other choices she had and knew there were none to be presented; she was here, this was her situation, and she could only move forward...words she thought her sister might say, and her voice Weiss could hear clear as an actress singing in a theatre play.

One thing that was still on Weiss's mind was if the emergency broadcast the pilot sent was ever heard by anyone. Another, which she just now thought of, was if their aircraft had a homing device installed: it was a requirement by most travel customs in the kingdoms, but the law was passed only a few weeks ago after an accident and the subsequent loss of a very valuable Atlesian Military asset. Said asset was never found. Sometimes Weiss wished people would adhere to basic common sense and not rely so heavily on their superstitions and/or arrogant self assurance...here Weiss was; Exhibit A: _Why Homing Devices are a Necessity in Cross Kingdom Travel._

Weiss couldn't be sure of it though. If she started making assumptions then she knew she'd get nowhere. So come daybreak she would return to the crash site and check the aircraft thoroughly. As long as she knew what she was in for, she was willing to stay in this forest as long as it took for help to arrive.

The wolf maintained her distance, following Weiss from afar as she trudged through the thick snow. What she was not counting on was Weiss following the paw prints she had left behind.

Weiss had found the tracks not long after deciding to find shelter. She thought an animal might've come running to see what happened (little did she know she was right) but it ran off shortly afterwards.

As the night went on it had become much, much colder in the forest. The falling snow grew thicker as the howling wind carried it to fall. A thin layer even began to cover Weiss, her jacket doing all it could with its minimalist design to keep her warm. Even with her hood and scarf over her head, her jacket zipped and button-fastened, and her hands in her armpits, Weiss was wishing she had worn a heavier coat.

About a quarter mile would be covered before Weiss found the end of the tracks; the young Huntress never felt more tired in her life—and she's had a number of moments that could run close second during her life when she was but a Huntress in training.

But the walk was worth it: Weiss found a small cave where the tracks ended. Not the coziest place in the world but it would do.

It goes without saying that the first thing anyone would do if they were stranded in a freezings cold environment by themselves was to look for, or create, a source of warmth—as luck would have it, Weiss didn't need to do as much hard work like anyone else would.

The most basic rule of any fire was to gather small sticks and twigs, things that were easy to burn. So Weiss walked around and collected viable wood from the surrounding area: whether it be loose bark, fallen branches she was sure were from a recent time, or even sticks ripped right off of the surrounding trees, all of it was good enough for her needs.

The wolf continued to watch. Her home was being invaded, her instincts were telling her to go and protect it: but she fought the urge. She saw what Weiss could do, and she wasn't going to risk anything. However, some part of her felt bad for what had happened to Weiss..._What could I do?_

Once her arm was holding as much wood as could be carried, Weiss returned to the small cave, but a wave of shock would cause her to lose her grip on the sticks and other kindling as she caught the sight of something that was not there before…

It was a torn off half of a rabbit.

Weiss took one of the longer sticks from the pile; very carefully she slid it under the bloody carcass and lifted it off the ground. It was the front end of the rabbit, and Weiss came close to throwing up seeing the combination of its dead, beady eyes and what was left of its guts falling out...

And then she actually did throw up. She dropped the stick and rabbit and threw up where she stood, bile and digested food from hours ago melting the snow and then freezing itself. Suffice to say Weiss now stood in a spot of snow that was stained a pale green, even more gross.

"_Ugh- *cough*..." _Weiss took a moment to recuperate after that. Of the list of anything else she was expecting, this was not one of them. "Where did this come from?"

Weiss looked around to see if she could find whatever might've left the rabbit behind, but even with the moonlit sky it was so dark out she couldn't see anything in the tree line or rocks. _Maybe a hawk lost its dinner, _Weiss thought, and it was possible...but she also would've heard an audible _thud _if that were true. Either way, after throwing up the contents of what she ate earlier, if Weiss wasn't hungry before she certainly was now, she only wished the rabbit were whole—and not half-eaten by another animal.

* * *

Burn dust. The name speaks for itself: it burns. Whether it was Grimm that needed to be put down swiftly, bandits that needed more than a string beating: or other tasks as simple as cooking, heating, and lighting (that is before Lightning dust took those rolls) no one could argue that Burn dust was one of the few more versatile kinds of elemental accelerants out there.

Weiss had used some more dust from her stash, depleting the vial she had down to half, and her hand hurt after using it while unprotected. Part of her wished she'd waited a little longer so her aura would've been there to protect her, but that would've been about an hour, and after ten minutes of that Weiss conceded that was too long. So she went ahead and did it anyway.

Another perk of getting the fire going sooner meant she could eat sooner. While she didn't like the idea of eating something that was in another animals mouth, what other choice did she have? It probably would be miles before she saw anything to eat again—so she swallowed down her skepticism, along with some pieces of the rabbit. If nothing else, she made sure to cook it until she was certain it wouldn't make her sick while her aura was building back up.

Weiss wasn't the only one enjoying some rabbit. Just beyond the rocks that bordered the tree line and the small cave, the wolf sat and chewed away at the piece of rabbit she kept. She couldn't go to the cave, not now, not when she still needed to know who she was with. She knew Weiss was strong, that much was clear, but she wasn't going to just leave Weiss out to dry either. So she would wait. She'd wait until she decided whether or not Weiss was a friend…

...or a foe.


	4. Chapter 4: A Rough Morning

The sun rose on the snow-white forest, a gorgeous white sheen cut through the branches, the slight fog, transparent leaves that had yet to fall, and reflected off ice from tiny lakes and puddles where it could form. Not a single cloud in the sky could be seen. Immaculate, that was the state of the forest, for there wasn't a single blemish in all of the white for miles around.

Though, of course, the forest was nothing if not freezing. At any rate, the sun only made it warmer by a mere fraction, no more, no less. This was no different for the animal that lay on a stone slab, having slept the whole night there.

The wolf didn't mind the cold, nor did she mind sleeping outside of her cave. She had learned the hard way that moments where finding shelter was not possible was inevitable; that was true for traveling long distances; it was true for times when rest was much needed and she couldn't walk any further; and it was true while she hunted...but the one that she never considered from that list was the notion that her cave may be occupied by a stranger who fell from the sky.

Another thing she didn't consider when she settled for sleeping outside the cave was the sun rising in the direction she faced. The rock she hid behind was perfect for blocking the sun's light for just a while longer when she slept in the cave, but she was on the other side, and the sun beamed in her face. She tried turning away, but a reflection made from ice was just as annoying.

She scrunched her eyelids tighter, she tossed to turn away from the light, she fought the now inexplicable urge to wake up, but it was a losing battle she could not fight once the process started. So she finally gave in and opened her eyes...

...But the sun was blinding. Of course it was. Why would it not be? What choice did her body have but to have her eyes contract until they stung, doing all they could to filter out the excess light for her to see? So she closed her eyes once more, for she was unprepared at first, but she would be in a few moments.

First she stretched, like she always did, front paws forward and back arched down to do the downward facing dog. Her back and joints felt tense, like her body ached all over: normally she wouldn't feel this bad. Then again, her hunt did take her farther than she was used to, and returning was simply a matter of blessing. Under different circumstances she might've ended up having to take up shelter in another part of the forest, but she would've preferred that over not having the extra hour being on the other side of the rock would give her right about now.

Once she'd finished her stretch the wolf shook her fur, sometimes knots and tangles would form as she slept, but thankfully there were none this time. She wasn't quite totally awake yet, but it would do for now.

The wolf decided the first thing she would do this morning would be to get another look at her guest. She crept along the stone and through the snow as she circled around, and she was thankful to see her guest hadn't yet awakened, this was the perfect opportunity to see her in a better light.

Front left paw, back right paw, front right paw, back left paw, the wolf went as she crept, she fought the aching in her joints as she strode silently towards Weiss. She thought it funny that she had to be sneaking around her own home, but the same time she wished her instincts weren't warning her that her guest might be a threat: frankly it was enough of a battle against her own instincts that was more tiresome than her aching pains.

But none of that would matter now that she managed to get close enough to stand a foot away from Weiss's face. It was shocking, the wolf thought it was just the moonlight before, but Weiss was incredibly pale—maybe it could've been the cold, but she'd never seen someone's skin look so light. She looked so peaceful while asleep, even on the hard rock where she lay she appeared somehow comfortable. The wolf's instinct to run or attack had died down a little bit as she took in Weiss's scent once more: it wasn't the same perfume smell that radiated off her earlier when the wolf first found her, but it was still in some way sweet, more mellow anyway. Perhaps that was for the best, though. The perfume she wore earlier wreaked.

The wolf came a little closer, the end her snout was only inches away from Weiss's nose, and she was glad that she could smell the rabbit she had left for her last night. She did catch the smell of something cooking, but she wasn't sure if Weiss actually ate her offering—turns out she was right to leave it. Weiss's breath smelled of cooked rabbit, and it was very sweet.

Then Weiss stirred. Out of fear, the wolf turned and ran off to hide behind the entrance of the cave. There was a moment of silence that followed, and the wolf couldn't hear anything. She peaked out from behind the edge, and it turned out all Weiss did was flip herself to sleep on her other side. She was safe.

The wolf decided not to wake the girl up, she's had enough trouble without a wild animal bothering her while she slept, and she was certain waking up a girl who'd just crash landed in the middle of the woods was not a good idea. But she did have a good idea...well, she thought it was good.

* * *

Sometimes the wolf would go out of her way to catch something that she wanted, something that was different from the usual prey.

There was a section of forest she knew about that wasn't too far from the cave, only about a quarter mile, just past a stream. A colony of racoons lived here, widespread and moved every so often, but the Wolf always knew their scent, they wouldn't hide for long very easily.

First, the wolf found her spot in the center of a clearing in the mass of trees. Then, she waited. She had their scent, but it was everywhere, the distinct musk came from all directions. She had to wait and use another method for her hunt: sound. If there was even the slightest shuffle inside a log somewhere nearby, she would hear it and know exactly where her next prey would be.

For now, though, she would sit and participate in the more tedious part of the hunt: the wait, and sometimes that would take so long it was just boring. It wasn't like the rabbit, where she could track it for miles and have to chase it down—this required more grounded methods, and so she'd wait for that one wrong shuffle.

Normally she would wait for several hours, sometimes an entire day, and even then she might walk away with nothing. Sometimes it wasn't like that; it could be as short as an hour or two and she'd have a nice big raccoon hanging out of both sides of her maw, but that was as good as one out of every hundred days hunting. The chances were few and far between. But if there was anything she'd learned over the years of living in the woods, it was that patience yielded a reward eventually—and she'd grown to be _very _patient after many years.

* * *

Lost, alone and cold, these were three of the four things that Weiss considered to be the building blocks of devastation. All she needed was to be afraid, and that would complete the set. But she was not afraid, not anymore, and not now...however, she was uncomfortable sleeping on a stone slab. She thought she might add 'uncomfortable' to the list of things needed for devastation, her back was already aching like hell as is, _I'd love to be on the bed back in the inn._

If nothing else, Weiss was at least to have gotten any sleep at all. Indeed she had grown to accept any place as good enough to rest, but never had she thought sleeping on a rock would be one of them.

Weiss got up to stretch, and every muscle in her back fought her along the way. She reached her arms up and leaned back, then side to side, and then she put her arms down and rolled her neck around—at which point her neck let out loud _pops_ from left to right. Sore, and tense, not a good start to the day.

But neither was hunger, and Weiss's stomach growled after she finished stretching herself out. The rabbit she had was a decent enough meal—even if it probably wasn't the best choice—and frankly, whoever or whatever helped her, she figured she'd take all the help she could get. Still, half a rabbit wouldn't be enough to keeping her going, she needed to go it and find more.

"Okay...first things first…" Weiss said to herself, then she counted on two fingers. "I need to, one: find Myrtenaster; and two: find something to eat…" she looked around, and realized the latter would be very difficult. She took a breath, and then said, "Yeah, _that _shouldn't be hard at all."

With that, she made her way out of the cave and stepped into he snow. Her tracks were still there, but so were something else's. She looked down and found the new line of tracks went perpendicular to the ones she made last night, it wasn't there before, something else was here, and not too long ago it seemed. They weren't hooved tracks, and that disheartened Weiss. She was hoping it would've been a deer, but no, it was canine.

"Wherever it is, it's probably long gone by now," Weiss said. "Just hope I find my weapon if it ever comes back."

* * *

The fires of the crashed aircraft had since went out, it was nothing more than a scrap heap covered in black soot now. Crates, big and small, were scattered about the clearing along with the many bits and pieces of the engines and fuselage, and shrapnel hung from the sides of trees all around from the turbine explosion.

One thing still made no sense to her: she could've sworn she hit the ground next to the aircraft when it crashed. She knew she was holding onto the right bay door when they impacted. She wondered how she got all the way from the right side of the craft, and to leaning next to a tree on the opposite side. Who, or what, helped her? The question stuck with Weiss her entire walk to the crash site.

Weiss decided to test a theory of hers and attempt to open one of the crates, but it was sealed shut. She checked the other crates, and they were too. No doubt the key card needed to open them was burned along with the pilot, so opening them might as well have been a dream without her sword. A shame, really—the supplies within would be very useful right about now.

Weiss hugged her shoulders tight as the winter breeze blew, her clothes did what they could to keep her warm, but she'd never intended to be out in the cold for a long time—as if sleeping on a rock in the cold of night wasn't bad enough. She brought her scarf up to cover her face, it helped to warm up her cheeks some, but the freezing cold still pierced the fabric. Same for her hood: she'd end up pulling it tighter around her face had her arms not already been occupied keeping her body warm. Part of her wanted to return to the cave and light another fire.

_No, I have to find Myrtenaster—once I have my sword back I'll worry about getting warm afterwards, my aura can sustain me for that long. _Weiss was determined to find her sword, she thought her survival in this forest would not be guaranteed if she didn't have it.

Another thought occurred to her: if her sword wasn't where she already was, perhaps it had been at the crash site—and if that were the case, it was probably sent flying after the explosion. That meant it could be anywhere.

There was only one way to know for certain, so she sucked up the fact that she could be walking for quite some time. Weiss looked for anything that stood out that might give her some indication of where her sword sword might've landed before the aircraft exploded. But there was too much shredded metal to assume her sword might've gotten lodged into a part of the hull, though it was a possibility too. If there was an imprint of it on the ground, the snow would've been melted and obscured by the fire.

"_Okay, Weiss...think...if your sword probably landed and ended up leaning against something, chances are maybe it got sent away after the aircraft exploded…" _Weiss mumbled to herself. This seemed like a fair deduction—the only problem was that did nothing to narrow down her search; if anything it only made it that much more difficult. Her sword could've been sent flying and fell anywhere…well, at least it could've gone in one direction anywhere to the right of the aircraft, which was still a broad radius to be sure.

But it was settled, Weiss reasoned that would be where she searched: East.

* * *

Turns out today was the one in a hundred.

The wolf strode proudly through the snow as she held a large raccoon in her jaws. It was as she planned it: wait for one to make a wrong move, and let the animal that she was take over the rest. She heard this one shift, and she tore open the tree to get to it. Thankfully it was a male. Had it been a mother with kin...she didn't want to think about it, nor did she care. All that _did _matter was she had another meal to share with her guest—if she could call Weiss such a thing. Despite her own actions towards helping Weiss, she'd not yet made up her mind about her

She shook her fur as the winds blew, a cold front meant one thing, and it was that more snow would come. Another cold night. But at least she had something to keep her warm, and she'd be feasting on it in a little while.

The wolf climbed up the rocks to the entrance of her cave, though the moment she turned the corner to check and see if Weiss was still there, she was surprised to see the exact opposite was in view. Weiss was not there. She was gone.

She set down the raccoon and sniffed the spot where Weiss had slept, her scent was still strong so she couldn't have left too long ago. Still, she was hoping Weiss would return. Yes, the wolf would turn and run the moment she heard her coming, but at least she'd know Weiss was safe and still alive—quite an interesting dilemma for her instincts.

In any case, she did with the raccoon what she had with the rabbit and tore it in half. Weiss got the head end, she got the tail end. It was likely Weiss would be disgusted once again seeing another half of a dead animal where she took shelter, but the wolf figured that if she saw it once, it was also likely that she wouldn't be so bothered by it a second time and only somewhat disturbed. But none of that would matter if Weiss didn't return.

So the wolf took her spot on a patch of grass with her half of the raccoon in her jaw. She wasn't hungry enough to eat it right away, but she didn't feel like waiting to go out to hunt in the night...and of course she had someone else who likely needed to maintain a regular diet.

There was one thing she wanted to do now that she was alone, and that was to take a nap in her home—not outside on a rock.

* * *

Rocks, logs, snow and ice for miles around, and it all looked the same in every direction. Weiss wouldn't even be able to tell where she came from without knowing where the sun was...not that she wouldn't know which way she came from if the sun were to set now; that was basic survival when a compass was not present. Perhaps she just didn't want to get caught up in something drastic and let everything fly out the window.

Of course, Weiss hadn't been caught up in any such event yet. She knew where she was going, and she knew where to go back after she'd accomplished her goal. Plain and simple.

Aside from the obvious, Weiss would be lying to herself if she couldn't say it was nice to be walking in the woods at this time of year. It was rather relaxing; just the kind of change of pace that any other huntress would've asked for—though if they'd been there by their own accord that would've been nice. Of the split between her situation being either a disaster or a blessing, Weiss chose to stay in the middle. She'd probably make it a blessing if she found her sword.

Weiss kept walking, another hour or two had to have passed since her second departure from the crash site. But she wasn't making as much distance as she had before, instead she made wide sweeps left and right to ensure every base was covered in her search. Besides, if she went linear then there was likely a chance she'd overlook something on the way back.

But something kept Weiss on edge, and it was something that was both parts peaceful and unnerving: the silence of the woods. Apart from her own footsteps in the snow, there was hardly anything making any sort of audible noise that she could hear. She liked that it was quiet, but at the same time she thought it was a little _too _quiet.

_*CRACK!*_

Weiss jumped behind a tree after the loud sound went off. It was far too loud and sharp to simply be a tree falling over. Weiss knew well enough what a gunshot sounded like, but if it was a gunshot, then that meant she was not alone in these woods. Who knows, maybe she would get back to civilization quicker than she had anticipated.

The sound of the gun shot came from Weiss's left, northeast, maybe. The shooter had to have been a couple miles away. It would be quite a trek to be sure. But there was still the underlying problem which was her sword still not in sight. Weiss decided to make finding Myrtenaster the priority, then she'd go to find the source of the gun shot, _I hope I don't get mistaken for a deer._

* * *

The wolf's head shot up after the loud boom rocked through the trees. She knew the sound from a long time ago, and if it was what she thought it was, she was fearful of what it might've done. Then she remembered Weiss was out in the woods too. Could she have...no, probably not, the wolf didn't see anything on Weiss that would be capable of creating such a sharp and loud boom—not even her burn dust. As much as she wanted to think Weiss was alright, her instinct deep down was telling her to go and check, for Weiss had been gone for a while now.

_I at least have to check if she's okay, _the wolf thought. She took the halves of the raccoon and stowed them away in a little hole in the rock of her cave, a storage space she seldom used that would be difficult for larger predators to get into.

With her food safe and herself better rested, the wolf set out to look for Weiss. Her scent was still in the air: faint, but still sweet. She wasn't too far.

* * *

Weiss had traveled a more linear path after the gunshot went off, not because she was going towards it, but because she encountered a stream and couldn't find a way across that didn't involve her freezing her legs off. Had it been a more shallow stream then perhaps she'd have no problems, but no, this was a large river that had to be waist deep. Patches of ice lined the edges, deceptively making the gap look narrower than it was, and Weiss already made the mistake of stepping through the ice before by walking too close, _good thing I'm wearing boots. _

Oddly enough, the river wasn't raging like one of its size should—it was nearly stagnant. Either this was one of those rivers that came from a lake somewhere, or something was blocking off the river somewhere else.

Weiss looked towards the sun, by her best estimate she assumed she'd been looking for her sword for the better part of four hours. Aside from the loss of time in the day—which in itself wasn't all that bad, but Weiss wanted to make every minute count—she at least was glad it was getting mildly warmer throughout the day. The direct sunlight helped to fight the chilling breath of the wind.

Then, with a crack and a splash, Weiss's foot once again fell through a sheet of ice and into the water. The water line appeared to be getting wider as she went along.

And that's when Weiss finally found the source of the rivers congestion: there was a large dam of sticks and branches that blocked the flow—a beaver dam.

Weiss had almost completely ignored the dam, as it did not by any means look like it could support her weight enough to cross to the other side, but there was something that kept her there. A bright gleam shone off of a part of the dam. Then Weiss had finally realized that her day just got a whole lot better…

"There you are."

* * *

The wolf could tell that Weiss had gone in two directions from the crash site: one that she guessed was where she went first; and another that based on the strength of the aroma in the air told her was more recent. The wolf went the direction of the latter, and thankfully there were tracks for her to follow as well. What didn't help was the fact that the tracks went back and forth. The wolf thought she might've been searching for something. Of course she wouldn't follow the tracks in their entirety. With the help of Weiss's scent, the wolf could track her on a more direct path.

And that's exactly what she did. No needlessly wasted time. Just old fashioned tracking.

* * *

Weiss examined the dam. It had to have been maintained by the beavers for a couple years. It was simply massive, large branches stood to reinforce smaller ones, much of the exterior appeared to be well attended to, and it even appeared the beavers took advantage of a large rock that stood in the middle of the dam. On top of that, what continued beyond the dam was a short dip, like a small waterfall was supposed to be here.

"_Clever, for a bunch of overgrown vermin," _Weiss mumbled.

Among the impressive mammal-made architecture was her sword—which lay blade-first in the water, a layer of ice had even begun to form around the blade.

Weiss checked her pockets for a bottle of ice dust, perhaps she could freeze the water and make it safe enough for her to cross and retrieve her sword.

_Gravity, no. Burn, nope. Wind, not that either...water, why do I have water? I don't even use water dust that much. _

"_Ugh, come on…_" Weiss groaned, of course it was the one bottle she didn't have, and it was the one she needed the most—it was almost like a real cliche tragedy. It was irritating: it was her idea to get clothes made to carry more dust, and yet she didn't have the one kind that would be the most useful right now. It was nothing short of cold irony..._that one girl I went to school with would be saying that right about now._

Weiss took a moment to consider her options: on the one hand, she could try to wade through the water and let her fragile aura protect her from frostbite; on the other hand, she could try to crawl along the dam and pray to the gods it doesn't collapse under her weight.

Either way, it seemed there was a high probably of her getting wet in the cold. But could she take the risk of aura lasting long enough before freezing her legs off? Could she take the chance of trusting an animal's architectural skills? Neither were pleasant options, but what other choice did she have?

Then again, there was her semblance to consider too—she could just as easily use it to lift the sword out of the water and to her. It was textbook. What was she doing contemplating two bad choices when there was already one absolutely good one?

It was settled, of course she'd use her semblance. It was the only thing any sane person would do.

With that in mind, Weiss raised her hand and summoned a glyph around the handle of her sword. She had to concentrate really hard; one misstep would mean she lose the blade to the bottom of the lake, and then it would be so much harder to retrieve it. She couldn't afford to be sloppy—not for a second.

Her sword was finally out of the water. Now she just had to guide the glyph towards her. She couldn't move too fast, or else real gravity would overtake her own—something she learned the hard way after trying to bring a coffee mug to her hand because she was too lazy to get out of bed and grab it herself—she needed to be patient and let the glyph do its job. It was already halfway to her, she just needed a little more…

*_Crack*_

Weiss's eyes shot wide. She looked behind her and a large branch had broken off from a dead tree. Her sword had since dropped into the river, but her instinct dictated that she jumped out of the way of the branch. However, in doing so, she accidentally landed on a weak sheet of ice on the edge of the river and ended up falling into the freezing water not moments after.

"_AAAAGH!" _

And there Weiss was, neck deep in the water and unfathomably cold, even with her aura. Her muscles tensed so tight it felt like her body had become stone, save for her shivering.

_Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why do I have such rotten luck?_ Weiss thought with chattering teeth.

Her thoughts were unimportant, however. What did matter was retrieving her sword—and getting out of the water and warming up again, of course. Without any time to waste, Weiss trudged her way through the water. Her skin felt like a thousand knives were cutting through to the bone as the frigid water froze her blood. The only thing that kept her from suffering anything serious was her aura—but even that was finite. Nonetheless, Weiss managed to retrieve her sword from the bottom of the river, though now she was about three quarters of the way from land.

Reminiscing would be a waste of time, and Weiss wasted nothing of a sort. As soon as her blade was in hand she made her way back to land.

_*Rumble-crack!*_

Weiss stopped in her tracks. The sound of ice cracking drew her attention to the end of the dam where the branch landed. She could've sworn she heard water sprinkling out the other side moments later. Then she heard another crack from the same spot. And then another. There was no mistaking it...and Weiss tried to move faster as more of the ice holding up the dam broke.

"_Come on...erg, just a little farther…" _Weiss groaned as she tried very hard to keep moving. She was beyond cold, just from insult to injury she managed to reach the point of burning cold in seconds. She didn't like any part of it.

Weiss made it about half way to land by the time she'd started getting used to the biting cold. It was certainly easier to move after a moment, but she was by no means in favor of slowing down to see how long she would last.

But then she heard more cracking from the dam. The pouring water became louder. Sticks and branches on the dam shifted and snapped, threatening to continue on while it lost more of its reinforcement. Weiss was only a quarter of the way from shore, if she hurried she could make it.

But alas, it was for naught. With one final and resounding crack, the entire side of the dam had lost all its ability to stay together. It collapsed, and Weiss was caught in the current. All she could do now was scream as she was dragged down the once-again freed river...

"_WOOOOOAAAAAH!"_


	5. Chapter 5: The Rescue

Fast paws cut through the snow; a flash of light and shiny fur past the trees, never slowing down for a moment. The wolf had come running after she had heard the sound of a scream, and she knew Weiss was in some kind of danger. Weiss's scent was still strong, and she followed that as well as the direction her scream came from...she only hoped she wasn't too late.

It wasn't too long before she came across a river, and to the wolf's dismay this was where Weiss's scent had faded away. Although, she remembered there was once a dam here; she now knew what that meant, and the gravity of Weiss's situation. She had no time to waste.

The wolf followed the direction the river flowed, hoping that she'd catch up to Weiss soon. The waters raged loud and their currents ran strong, ripping apart the land on either side as it reasserted its power over the earth; ice was broken to pieces, soil was dragged from the ground, and trees unfortunate enough to be nearby fell over. It was like all hell broke loose.

But the wolf was not deterred. She jumped over her obstacles; over the crumbling ice; over the collapsing ground; over and around the trees. There was no force in this forest that she would let slow her down.

* * *

A ways down the stream, Weiss fought helplessly as the current thrashed her against the riverbed. She took every opportunity to kick herself back above water to catch her breath, but every time she was pulled back under—practically crushed by the water as it rolled on top of her.

As if freezing wasn't enough, Weiss could barely keep track of which way she was facing, between the unyielding power of the water keeping her down, smidgeons of mud repeatedly being splashed and washed from her eyes, and her inability to find anything to hold onto—there was so little she could do to take control of her situation.

Soon enough the river brought her to another short dip. Like the dam before, this one fell a few feet before running flat. And just like before, Weiss couldn't do anything to stop herself from being carried into the fall.

"_Ag-!" _She yelped, only to end up taking a mouthful of water in the process. She spat it out the next chance she had. But choking on water wasn't all she had to worry about.

_Pow! _Her shoulder struck against a rock, again spinning around her already out of control ragdoll of a body. Her hitting the rock sent her shifting to the edge of the stream and against the ice. _Pow! _The side of her head struck against an outreaching chunk of ice; and it broke to pieces moments after. Weiss was still awake and mostly unharmed, although that wouldn't last if she couldn't get herself out of the water before her aura gave out. She could tell it wasn't doing as well as before.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a small tree that grew from the middle of the rivers path. There was no telling whether it would be able to hold her or not, but she had to take the chance that it would.

"_Rrrg, come on...agh!"_ Weiss yelled, kicking her feet so she angled herself facing the tree. She had only a second to react, but she managed to grab the trunk and thus stop herself from being carried by the water. However, the flow was not slowing; it continued to rage on while she remained latched to the tree.

"_Ugh, now what do I do?"_

* * *

Faster, faster, _faster..._the wolf put all she had into her legs as she ran, scanning the water for any signs of Weiss. But she saw no such thing for the better part of a mile.

She climbed onto the trunk of a fallen tree and used it to cross to the other side. She could already see the side she'd been on previously wasn't easy to pass by, so a slight detour was her best bet. Not the fastest way, but neither was risk falling into the water herself.

The river branched off a little farther down, blocking the wolf's way, but not enough to prevent her from leaping clear over it and landing on the other side. Her back legs got caught on some soft ice, though, and her impact caused it to collapse underneath her. She managed to pull herself out with her front paws while they were on solid ground, and once again she was back up and running.

She still couldn't see Weiss. For as far as her eyes could see, the girl was nowhere to be found. She couldn't give up though, Weiss couldn't be that far. So she kept running.

Eventually, she came across a short dip. For the wolf, this was the first marker moving towards the point of being too late. She jumped forward and landed down on all fours, continuing to press on at breakneck speed. But she could feel her legs beginning to ache, despite her will, she could feel them starting to slow.

No, she couldn't allow it. She had to keep going. She had to be getting closer—she had to be. Every breath would fuel a push. Every heartbeat would supplement a small ounce of strength she'd need to keep going.

There was a large rock in the water. She didn't need to, but she took the opportunity to leap over and onto it, and then to jump from it to the other side of the river, back where she had been traveling before.

Then, a wave of relief rolled through her body. She'd found a familiar head just barely staying above water...barley.

* * *

_Crrrack! _The small tree had been uprooted, and Weiss was once again floating helplessly down the river. Thankfully, she still had the tree to use as a means to keep her above water, but she was no closer to being safe.

There had been another dip in the river, not as big as the one before, but it was enough to force Weiss to lose her grip on the tree, and once again left to be carried by the rapids.

The current sent her down against the riverbed for a moment, and Weiss felt her back land against a patch of rocks. Then she rose back up, and then back down.

Then a turn followed by a slight incline followed. Weiss tried to brace herself as the water pummeled her on the way down, and her body smashed against the ice along the edge.

Unknown to Weiss, the wolf was still chasing after her, and she knew this section of the forest well enough that she was running out of time. She had to find some place soon where she could grab a hold of Weiss.

Another tree had fallen victim to the rapids. The wolf made a massive dare and leaped onto the trunk as it fell, crossing over it and onto the other side before it landed. The terrain was a lot sturdier than before, more rocky. A bad sign.

Weiss had an idea while she was still upright in the water. She pulled out her sword and attempted to point it back behind her. _If I can just create another barrier, it'll cut off the river long enough for me to get out...damn it's cold._

It wasn't easy, but she managed to turn herself around just long enough to get her aim right. Her blade was lined up to the middle of the stream, ice dust was at the ready. All she had to do was pull th-

"_Woah...aah!" _

Once again, there was another drop, and Weiss ended up firing her shot into the air instead of the river. Moreover, there had been a rock at the bottom of the drop, and Weiss landed directly on her back as she hit it, dropping her sword in the process. She tried to say something about it after slipping back into the rapids, but between the short wave of pain and her own words being muffled underwater, she couldn't quite get it out.

_What was that? _The wolf thought as she jumped down to the ground below. She knew she and Weiss were drawing near to the end of the line.

Several meters beyond the third dip lied the thing the wolf feared: the waterfall. A hundred foot drop that deposited the river water down into a frozen lake below, and if the wolf didn't hurry, Weiss may very well be crushed in between the rocks and ice and falling water. Or she may even break through the ice and drown; or even hit the rocks and be killed on the spot. The wolf knew she couldn't let any of that happen.

Weiss began to feel herself bumping into more rocks, then slamming into them. Her knee struck a rock at the riverbed, and then her shoulder was once again hit by another larger rock. But while her aura protected her against all of it, none hurt quite as much the next one. She couldn't see worth anything, and was woefully unprepared when she struck headfirst into a third rock.

_Pow! _ Her vision blacked out immediately after.

After a short moment, the wolf began to notice Weiss was no longer struggling against the current. The water was carrying her limp body now like a piece of driftwood. Something was wrong, and she had to hurry.

The wolf pushed herself as hard as she could to outrun the water flow, inching ever so slightly further past Weiss, who was being slowed down by more river rocks.

Then, Weiss's leg got caught in a stray root along the side of the river, bringing her to a complete stop. The wolf saw this, and found her opportunity to help the girl.

The section of the river they were at couldn't have been any worse of a place to be. On the one hand, the ground was being torn apart by the currents; and on the other hand, it was extremely difficult for the wolf to reach down and grab hold of Weiss, it was just too far down. Time was not on their side either, once the tree lost enough support to hold up its weight, it would be game over.

The wolf knelt down on her front legs and reached her neck as far as it could go to bite Weiss's sleeve with her teeth, but to no prevail. She tried digging out some of the dirt beneath her to give her a couple more inches, but this too wasn't working, and she didn't want to fall into the river herself and potentially meet the same fate.

_Crack! _The ground began to crumble under the immense stress of the currents. The wolf was forced to back away while the earth settled, only to be washed away by the water not moments after. Now the tree had even less support, and the wolf had less ground to work with in turn.

Or did it? Yes, although the loss of ground was not all great, it _did _lend some assistance in a way that the wolf could easily exploit. The wolf quickly began to dig into the muddy ground, kicking away loose roots and small rocks in an effort to create a slight incline down to where she could finally reach Weiss. She tried not to think of what would happen if she failed, all of her attention would be to dig until she had a surface to safely climb down and pull Weiss up on.

The tree began to let out small groans after a while. It certainly had more roots to hold it up than any of the others, but it was starting to reach its limit, and the roots couldn't bear the load for much longer. Little by little, small twicks and cracks would accompany the groaning timber, snow fell from high above along with some branches that were too weak to handle the white fluff landing on top of it. Time was running out.

The wolf finished digging her slope, it wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. She carefully tread down the pathway, taking what little time she had to ensure each step was solid and secure. Weiss's hand was directly in front of her, and she could almost smell her scent again. Once she was just a hair's breadth away, the wolf dug her paws into the ground and reached for Weiss's sleeve.

And sure enough, she had finally got her.

_Craaaack! _The tree wailed as it finally lost its ability to stay up. It was coming down, and it would land hard.

There was no more time to waste, the wolf put everything she had into her legs and pulled back on Weiss's arm, careful not to lose her grip in doing so.

Once Weiss's upper half was out of the water, the tree had finally toppled over, landing end to end across the river with a solid _boom_. But that wasn't the end of it, the waters circled around the severed earth that stuck to the tree and tore at the ground Weiss and the wolf stood on.

But the wolf kept on with pulling Weiss out. She was already more than halfway there, she could do it. Except she had forgotten about the root Weiss was stuck to, and it kept her from pulling any farther. She needed to pull harder.

"_Grrrrrr-raw!"_ the wolf growled. With one hard pull she managed to finally yank Weiss out of the water and onto land. She was safe, but the wolf pulled her even further away from the edge of the river just to be extra cautious.

Now that she had a chance to calm down a bit, she looked Weiss's body over. At the moment there didn't seem to be too much wrong with her. Actually, there appeared to be barely anything wrong with her, there were no bruises or scratches that the wolf could see, not a hint of blood that she could smell, nothing. She was completely fi-

_Bzz-zz… _The wolf stepped back after a faint blue hue flickered around Weiss's body. She hadn't seen this before, and had no idea what to make of it. It didn't seem to cause any visible damage, so what was it? Was this flickering...glow the reason Weiss had come out unharmed?

Whatever it was, the wolf paid it no mind for now. It wasn't important. Right now, what was important was getting Weiss back to some place warm—and after grazing her nose against Weiss's cheek, feeling her freezing cold flesh, she needed warmth badly.

The wolf grabbed a hold on the collar of Weiss's jacket, and she began the painstaking process of dragging the girl along back to her cave.

_This is going to be a long day…_

Meanwhile, back at the waterfall, Weiss's sword fell along with the rapids.

* * *

An insufferable ringing echoed in her ears as Weiss came back from the bowels of darkness in her mind. Her arms felt heavy, like they were being weighed down, and it was painful to move. All the way down from head to toe felt like pins and needles, the most excruciatingly irritating kind of numbness, the kind of pain where you'd feel like a sharp rod was being pushed through your arms, legs, and spinal column. Her shivering only complimented the irritation.

After much effort, she managed to curl up into a ball and hug herself, knees up to her chest and tucked away in her arms. She felt like she was freezing all over. Although, there was another odd feeling, outside of the freezing numbness of her body. She felt...tingly, like little bristles were rubbing against her skin. Moreover, she couldn't tell whether it was because she was still numb from the cold or not, but she felt like she was wearing a lot less than she had originally been.

She tried to open her eyes. Even then, they each felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. It made her head hurt trying to put forth the effort to simply open them up. But when she did finally manage to open her eyes, she was impossibly confused.

She was back in the cave. Not only that, but she was in front of a fire with some kind of animal carcass roasting above it; the tingly feeling had been from a large bearskin wrapped around her; and once she caught sight of her clothes piled up against the wall of the cave she'd figured out why she felt so naked, because she was. Weiss's face went completely red as she wrapped the bearskin tighter around herself.

"_He-_..._hello?" _she croaked. It hurt to even try to speak.

But no one answered. No one came to check on her. Not a sound of a foreign footstep came into earshot.

Weiss shrunk in the blanket as she tried to speak again. Although now she was scared to even try to say anything else. She didn't know who saved her, but it wasn't confidence inspiring to know whoever saved her also removed everything she wore. For all she knew, it could've been some creep in the woods who got off on this.

Weiss looked out of the caves entrance to see how long she might've been out. It had to have been several hours, because it was already late dusk; that, and the evening cold front had set in, Weiss could tell by the sight of her own breath in the air. Thick as a pea soup.

She stuck an arm out from the blanket to grab her clothes, though even sitting next to the fire for a good while, they were still somewhat damp. _These won't do me any good out there right now._

She tried to see if she could sense if there was anyone or anything alive nearby, but then she figured her aura was broken during the accident, as she couldn't quite detect anyone at the moment.

Then a thought occurred to her. Was her sword still there? She rifled through her clothes once more. Dismay soon riddled her thoughts as she muttered, "_Dammit...not again."_

She looked outside the cave again to check if she could see anyone, thinking maybe whoever rescued her might've taken her sword. She knew she had it in her hand back at the river, and she knew she dropped it, but could it have been carried by the rapids away from her? Frankly, the latter seemed more likely.

But that begged the question: Weiss already knew she was being helped by something out there, leaving her food, helping her get out of harm's way, and now clearly playing caretaker...but who?

The wolf watched as Weiss tried to put the pieces together, thinking maybe she went a little overboard with the fire. But what choice did she have? She had to do something to make sure Weiss warmed up enough.

For now though, she herself was in a personal debate. Twice now she had saved Weiss's life. And after seeing that of blast of...she guessed it was ice, her instincts were screaming that Weiss was very dangerous to be around. However, right now Weiss wasn't showing any indication that she might be completely dangerous to the wolf; she didn't seem so dangerous right now, actually.

Another thing that made the wolf wonder: why was Weiss at the river? What was so important that she had to return to where her ship crashed, and then go to the river and nearly drown? None of it made sense, but seeing Weiss go through her own clothes and appear disappointed probably meant she was looking for something important.

Again, Weiss checked the outside of the cave, but then she saw the slightest glimmer from behind a rock. It looked like an eye, and it shifted back behind the rock.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Weiss asked. But the lack of any answer was getting on her nerves more than the fear gripping her throat. "Look, I've had a shitty day already, I'd at least like to know if I really am being stalked or not!"

The wolf was hesitant, and the unpleasant tone of Weiss's voice didn't help that. What would she even think if she found out a wolf had been following her around for the past day and a half? And with the animals she had been leaving, Weiss would probably think she was fattening her up to eat her later. But if Weiss accepted that she was saving her, maybe she wouldn't react quite as badly? _Ugh, why can't I just leave it be?_

Weiss was beginning to grow impatient, thinking maybe there really wasn't anything watching her. "Fine, don't come out then, I might be gone tomorrow morning and you'll never see me again anyway."

That was the tip into the net the wolf needed. Despite her best instinct telling her not to, she slowly came out from behind the rock and into Weiss's eyesight. _What am I doing?!_

Weiss watched as the figure came out, a dark silhouette crossed the gap between the rock and the cave, the slightest sheen of light fur refracting from the fires light as it approached. As it came more and more into the light, Weiss realized what she was in the presence of...and that was a large wolf, with oddly shining silver fur and eyes.

As if she couldnt get any paler, all color suddenly vanished from Weiss's face. Fear had taken hold of her, she kicked her feet against the ground as she tried to distance herself from the wolf. She cursed herself for even opening her mouth.

Once her back was against the wall, all she could do was watch and wait while the wolf inched closer. All of the steps to being prey were laying themselves out in her head: here she was, alone, vulnerable, weak, and cornered. _I might as well be on a silver platter. _

But the wolf did not growl at her, she didn't make any sudden move, she didn't even appear to be threatening. She could tell Weiss was afraid of her; in her face and by the slightest shift in her scent, the sudden spike of adrenaline in her sweat. This was no surprise, but it didn't stop her as she kept walking up towards Weiss, one paw in front of the other, real slow and steady until she was only an arms length away from the girl. Then she stopped and sat down, her head equal level to Weiss's and her ears folded down. The two stared at each other, like they were gauging one another and seeing who would do what first.

The wolf noticed how Weiss kept herself covered, especially when Weiss woke up and appeared embarrassed. Maybe she wasn't fond of being so exposed, even with a blanket to cover herself up? She stood once more, eliciting a short gasp from Weiss, and made her way towards the pile of clothes that laid next to the fire. After picking through with her snout, she pulled out a tank top and a pair of undershorts from the pile. They felt somewhat dry enough, and so she promptly brought them to Weiss and placed them in front of her. Then she returned to her seated position.

The moment was still tense, but Weiss was beginning to feel less afraid of the wolf after having a couple pieces of her clothes returned to her. Still looking at the wolf, Weiss reached her hand out and retrieved them into the blanket.

The wolf just sat there, watching as Weiss's arms and legs shifted underneath the blanket. She noticed the slightest blush on Weiss's cheeks, but she didn't understand what for. Then Weiss's head disappeared inside the blanket, and returned back out the next moment. The girl seemed somewhat relieved afterwards, such that her grip on the blanket loosened.

Weiss cleared her throat, her body still shivering with fear, and said, "Um...thanks."

The wolf's ears perked back up, but what Weiss didn't expect was for her to go up and rub her head against where Weiss's shoulder would be.

Weiss suddenly felt a lot less uncomfortable now, she even laughed a little bit as she brought her hand out to pet her new companion on the head. "_He-he, _good...uh...girl, I think?" The answer she got was another firm rub of the wolf's head.

_Grrrrr…. _Weiss's stomach growled. She just remembered that she hadn't eaten all day. The wolf too knew this, and promptly went to get the skewer from the fire. Upon returning, Weiss happily took the skewer and said, "Um...thanks for this too."

"_Rrrrm," _the wolf replied. Weiss guessed it was a _you're welcome. _

And so the two would spend the night together. They kept warm while Weiss ate what the wolf had prepared for her. It was certainly getting colder, but it didn't seem like it would snow tonight. Maybe that was a good thing, Weiss thought the view of the sunset was glorious.

Of course, Weiss still had many questions: 'why did she wake up without clothes?' was a good contender for ones to be answered, but the most glaring one was the fire in her opinion. She took her Burn Dust with her when she left earlier that morning, and she was sure no one else knew where she was. So, if she was truly the only person here, who lit the fire?

* * *

Back at the river, a pair of heavy winter boots plowed through the snow. A man walked coolly through the forest with a pair of rabbits and a rifle slung over his shoulder. He knelt down beside a tree and grabbed one of his snares out of the ground, unfortunately the damn thing collapsed after being unused for too long.

Mildly annoyed, he stood back up and brought his scarf down off his face to scratch his hairy chin. Although, he noticed something odd. Looking upon the site of the river, he seemed to recall a beaver dam once stood just in front of him. But now it was gone.

He looked in the direction the water was flowing and took note of the wreckage in the rivers wake, all of the fallen trees and the new girth the river seemed to have, he almost thought he was in the wrong part of the forest. He figured whatever happened here, it was very recent.

"_Hmm...now what brought you down?" _the hunter said. He shifted his prizes and gun and turned around to return home.


	6. Chapter 6: A Peaceful Morning

Another peaceful morning in the forest. It was calm and quiet all around, only the chirps from small birds singing their songs signaled that daytime had begun. No sun to brighten the day though, only clouds loomed in the sky as far as the eye can see. Small smidgens of snow fell, a light dusting that would barely be noticed, like a drop of water in an ocean.

One such snowflake fell, twirling around in the gentle breeze from the heavens to the ground. It fell past branches and leaves, carried by small currents on its way to its new home below. It would hover over some rocky ground, then inside a cave until it came near to a pair of figures sleeping on the hard floor.

The snowflake landed on the sleeping wolf's nose, the slightest cold touch tingled a little bit, just like many others before it. And just like the others, it melted within moments of contact, little more than another insignificant speck of water, barley even worth calling a drop. But this last snowflake was enough for the wolf to lick her lips and open her eyes.

The wolf lifted her head up from the ground, she let out a long yawn not long after. She looked out cave to see the sky, thinking maybe if it was overcast all day she could sleep in some more, but she couldn't find it in herself to get any more rest. She'd be awake for as long as the day was going.

Her attention turned to Weiss, who was still wrapped in the blanket. The girl was still sound asleep, and she didn't show any signs that she would be waking up quite as early as the wolf did. The wolf couldn't blame her, she must've been very tired after what happened the day before, so she let her be. In the meantime, the wolf would go on with her routine. She knew Weiss might be hungry by the time she woke up, and she was too.

* * *

One of the rules of the wild was to know where to hunt. The forest contained a number of places that held their own fruits of labor, some better than others. The wolf knew this, and she had a lot of time to get to know the different parts of the landscape and what they held—one such place was a lake she knew of, just south of the cave.

It was certainly a long walk, but if she could get this done quick then she could return in an hour or two. Sometimes she thought hunting was rather tedious with its long wait times, being on the prowl and waiting for anything worthwhile. Sometimes an innocent deer would show up, other times it would be a rabbit or two. But she wouldn't get anything if she didn't wait first.

There are two perks to visiting a lake: there might be other animals looking to have a drink, and there was the chance to catch a fish. Either was acceptable, but the wolf didn't want to do any more running, she was tired of it after yesterday, so the latter would be on her agenda today.

A little further down and through some bushes, the wolf finally arrived at the lake. It featured a small waterfall from an adjacent river, bringing in more fresh water as well as fish from elsewhere. She looked around and found that there were no other animals to be seen. _Good, the less trouble I have, the better. _

The wolf craned down and lapped some of the lake water in her tongue. The water was crisp, and she felt it cool her throat on the way down; it felt good.

Once she was done drinking she walked along the perimeter to find a suitable place to begin her hunt, she wished this was a shallower lake though. She knew of one to the east, but that was a day and several miles running away, and she didn't have the time or energy for that—especially since there was one mouth to feed that wasn't quite ready for traveling such a ways away yet. Time would tell then.

For now, though, the wolf had no more worries than that. She's caught fish in this lake before, and sometimes they were fairly good ones, but the problem was getting into a position where she could effectively catch them.

There was one part of the lake that hosted a rock the wolf could reach with a single jump, one low enough down that it barely stayed above the surface. She'd have a clear view into the water, and remain completely dry while doing so. There were fish bones left over from the previous times she's been there to hunt fish and just outright ate them right then and there. Normally she would do that again, but not this time. She only hoped she would catch more than one fish this time around.

So the wolf stood like a statue, unmoving and all patient, for what might be a long while.

* * *

Back at the cave, Weiss was beginning to stir from her slumber. She had slept a good deal longer than the wolf did, and she felt it in her joints, which ached and popped painfully as she moved around under the heavy fur blanket. She thought she was used to this much aching pain after years of being a Huntress, but it turned out she was wrong on that front. Maybe the cold did quite a number on her, certainly since her aura broke protecting her from it. Pain aside, that was no matter now.

Weiss rubbed her eyes, breaking her eyelids free of their tired holds. She yawned shortly afterwards, and even that was hard on her upper muscles, like her shoulders and chest were going to pop off her body from the sheer tension. But that would subside. Apart from the events at the river, she had been through much worse.

Now that she was somewhat awake, Weiss said, "Good morning," expecting the wolf to be there next to her. But to her dismay, the wolf was gone, and she knew not where. She shrugged it off, thinking maybe the wolf was off to get something to eat.

Weiss took a sharp breath as she brought her arms up to stretch, releasing at the same time she reached maximum tension on her shoulders. The blanket fell off of her after doing so, but she was quick to bring it back up around her.

Now that she was limbered up some, and about as awake as she would get without a cup of coffee, Weiss stood up for the first time since waking up in the cave the day before. Her legs felt weak, like walking on gelatin, and her feet were freezing on the cold stone ground. She thought her clothes might be completely dry after spending the night next to the fire, maybe then she could warm up a little better and not have to rely on a bears hide..._though it's not all that bad, it's really quite comfortable. _

Weiss knelt down and picked through the pile, taking the articles of clothing and putting them on. She almost didn't want to, but she let the blanket fall off her back so she could get dressed, goosebumps rattled her skin and bones as soon as soon as she did. She struggled a little bit between her aching joints and the piercing cold grazing her skin, but little by little she was feeling herself getting warmer with each piece she put on.

The final piece of clothing to put on was her jacket, which had a small tear in the right shoulder. It was a disappointing sight to see, as much as she disliked the white hood, it was a nice jacket. But maybe she could mend it back together once she made it out of the forest and find a town to settle in. For now, though, she slid the jacket on and completed her attire. The only thing missing was her sword. As much as she wanted to go out and try to find it again, she didn't feel like repeating what happened last time; that, and she was just not up for that kind of travel just yet.

Weiss checked her pockets for the dust vials she'd been carrying, and miraculously they were still intact. She thought one or two might've been shattered during her spill, but they were still very much in one piece, and still had all the dust they held safely inside. She returned them to their pockets after confirming everything was still there.

Now that she was dressed once again, Weiss decided to wrap herself back up in the blanket and wait a little bit before heading on out. She didn't have any way to tell the time, but she thought she would depart for the crash site again after a couple hours.

* * *

The wolf had since sat down on the rock, she grew tired of standing still while waiting for a fish. She saw plenty of them, but none had the courage to swim close enough to the surface for her to try and catch them. Maybe they wisened up after a couple trips? No, the wolf made sure she her trips were few and far between, a fish can't remember something was there to hunt them after a couple months.

Her ears twitched as she heard something crawl through the bushes nearby. She scanned the perimeter of the lake to see what it might be. She knew it wasn't Weiss, she had a sweet musk to her scent; this scent held a mild foulness to it, like too much time spent in the dirt.

Then she saw what it was: a fox. No wonder the wolf couldn't see it at first, it's white fur blended in almost perfectly with the snow. As fun as a fox chase might be, especially once her heart rate jumped a few paces after catching sight, the wolf decided to let it be. Why bother? It was only here for a drink anyway. Besides, chances are the fox already knew she was there, and chasing it would just be a novelty.

Her attention returned to the water, but there were still no fish that she could catch. She could only see a few silvery silhouettes deep below. She wondered how many fish there were in the lake. Take away every predator that might come down to eat them, and perhaps as many as a hundred fish could live in this single lake, completely undisturbed. That would surely be a sight to see.

The wolf heard more ruffling in the bushes. She looked again towards the white fox to see what it was now. And there came another fox, and a couple of cubs to follow. The wolf figured either one of the adult ones was the mother. She wondered what it must be like having to protect your kin, knowing that one wrong move would be the end and your cubs or pups would have to fend for themselves—maybe even to meet an untimely demise themselves later on—it couldn't be easy. But as time goes on, those cubs would eventually be old enough to go their own way, and maybe a couple would have cubs of their own. She would probably hunt them down in that time, and by then she probably wouldn't care if she'd seen them before or not. But that would be for another time.

The wolf was almost ready to let her front paws rest and lay down. It felt like an hour and a half had gone by and she had nothing to show for it, she would probably catch a minnow and be done with it if she could.

But then, one fish was just in the right position. The wolf didn't move a muscle as she waited for the fish to pass in front of her. Her heart was racing, but she steeled herself as her prey came closer...and closer…

_Splash!_ The wolf shanked her head into the water, and in mere moments she pulled back out, thrashing her head around wildly. She caught one, finally. She kept thrashing the fish in her jaws until it stopped squirming. Once it was limp, she laid it down on the rock. _One down, one or two more to go. _

Now that she was wound up, the wolf decided to stay for a little while longer. The fish in the lake would most definitely have noticed the disturbance she had caused, but they were stupid; they would forget all about it in due time.

For now though, the wolf would continue with the waiting game. At least now she had something to look forward to.

* * *

Weiss thought she had waited long enough. She was starting to feel a lot better after getting the rest she needed, at least walking didn't feel quite so awkward. She made her way down to the crash site after remembering something she hadn't thought of at the time, and she felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner.

Everything was still there, only snow was beginning to take it over. Although, there was something new: vultures had appeared, likely migrants who were traveling elsewhere to avoid the changing weather and thought they'd catch a short snack—only that snack was the poor pilots charred remains. Disgusted, Weiss brought her hand up, she felt her aura flow through her once again and ready to do what she wanted it to. _Feels good to have this back._

While the vultures mindlessly feasted on the pilots carcas, black glyphs were forming around where each of them stood. They grew larger larger very slowly until they were about two feet wide. Then Weiss flicked her hand up. The next moment, every single one of them was launched into the air, all of them letting go their cries and caws. Weiss laughed a little as she watched them struggle to flap their wings and stabilize themselves. Some did manage to straighten out and start flying, others nearly crashed against the aircraft hull before following suit. Weiss thought if they could speak, they would be spouting off all manner of fowl language towards her.

Once she was done having her fun, Weiss walked around back to enter the bay door. She still marveled at how much cargo there was in the ship, at some point she might go and move them to the cave so she wouldn't need to go back and forth for supplies—if the wolf would allow it, that is. Although, it seemed the wolf was generous enough with letting Weiss stay in the cave with her, and even sharing food with her. Maybe she wouldn't mind a few crates nearby? It seemed silly, _maybe I'll run it by her when she comes back._

The inside of the aircraft had seen better days. Everything was coated in soot, the seats were reduced to ash and melted plastic, and the control panel was completely ruined—including the radio, sadly. What Weiss was looking for was considerably more durable, and hopefully this particular aircraft had it.

She checked around the hull, nothing; she checked the control panel, nothing again; she then checked one of the adjacent walls, _bingo._

Finally, something was going right for Weiss for a change. She found a hatchet safely stowed away in its emergency case. There was a web of cracks in the protective glass, but that only made it easier for its removal. She brought up her elbow and slammed it against the glass, it broke into a hundred shards just like that.

"There we go," Weiss said celebrating her triumph.

Weiss took the hatchet from its display hooks, and she marveled at the awkward weight of it in her hand. It was complete one-eighty from what she was used to—with Mytenaster, she had a lot more control, this was quite the opposite—even now, it was begging her to let the blade end drop down. As bulky as it was, it would be quite useful for cutting through some things, and it appeared to have a couple other uses as well considering the way the head was shaped.

With the hatchet in hand, Weiss stepped out of the airship. The wind had picked up a little bit as she did, and she realized she'd forgotten to bring up her hood. She quickly brought it over her head, and she wrapped her scarf over her face as well so she could keep her face from freezing. _Now if I can find some gloves, then I'll be set. _

Weiss approached one of the crates near her, it was smaller than the others, and it appeared to have a weaker lock than the rest—in that it was smaller. She looked at the head of the hatchet again, picking out the part that resembled a crowbar, it was perfect. Weiss only hoped it was strong enough to force the crate open.

Fixing her grip on the handle, Weiss went and jammed the forks of the crowbar into the crack, but she missed. She tried again, a little bit closer than before, and she missed again. Weiss started to become irritated..._damn, why does this thing have to be so off-balance?!_

Weiss took a deep breath. She knew getting mad wouldn't get her anywhere. She had to calm down and straighten herself out. Only then would she succeed. Once she felt she was ready to try again, Weiss brought up the crowbar, only this time she had a different approach in mind—something that didn't involve picking at the thing fruitlessly.

She set the teeth into the crease where the lid met the container walls, then she brought her foot up under the axe blade. In all honesty, she didn't think this would work. Surely the tool itself was durable enough to handle it, but she didn't feel she had the strength to do it herself. She was trained to fight with grace, like a dancer, not with brute force. And what if she missed and cut a hole in her boot? What then?

Her thoughts and worries would be made to ash once she forced herself to lightly kick the tool. Much to her surprise, it was enough to wedge the teeth of the crowbar in by the slightest bit. Somewhat impressed by the feat, Weiss went ahead and kicked again: the crowbar went in a little more, and the protective metal around the crate was starting to bend. She thought one more time might give her enough to try and pry open the lid. So she brought her foot up one more time, and she kicked as hard as she could. With a resounding _creak_, the crowbar went in as far as its design would allow, but it was enough for Weiss.

Now that the crowbar was safely wedged into the crack, Weiss rested her hands down on the handle and pushed all her weight against it, however, she found that was more difficult than getting the crowbar where it was. But she didn't get this far just to let her lack of upper body strength stop her from getting into this box. With that in mind, Weiss knew she was only getting this far by doing things a different way—she thought she would continue doing that.

Weiss stepped back a little bit. If she couldn't do this with her arms, her legs would probably have better luck. Just to be extra cautious, she directed her aura into her foot, figuring if this failed then it would be good to have some protection. Once that base was covered, she brought up her leg and stomped against the handle.

And just like that, the crate lid made a loud _crack. _The lock broke. She was in.

Weiss was stunned, she didn't think that would work. But it did, and she now had access to one of the crates. A relieved smile crept onto her face.

"Well..._he-he..._alright then."

* * *

Another successful hunt, and then some. The wolf was walking back to her cave after catching another fish, carrying both in her maw by the tails. She wished she would have caught them faster, but there was no helping what was out of her control.

The fish themselves weren't that bad. They were average at best, maybe a pound or two short of ten. She was used to catching bigger fish though, perhaps it just wasn't the time of year for larger fish yet. She couldn't really complain either way. At least she caught the ones she got.

Once she made it back to the cave, the wolf noticed Weiss wasn't there, and neither was the pile of her clothes. She was probably off doing something, at least she was likely fully recovered, but the wolf wanted to make sure she wasn't putting herself in any danger again.

The wolf set down the fish next to the site of the campfire. She then brought her nose up to see if Weiss's scent was still fresh, and it sort of was. She couldn't be very far, so the wolf followed her scent...as well as a trail of tracks Weiss had left behind in the snow.

* * *

So the wolf followed the trail down the hill, arriving once again to the crash site. Although she still couldn't find Weiss, she knew by the strength of her scent that she was very close. She checked around the aircraft, and there Weiss was, sorting through a crate and taking things out.

Weiss had noticed the wolf arrived. She said, "Oh, hey girl, how've you been?" as she waved the wolf to come closer.

The wolf obliged her and joined Weiss at her side, receiving a pat on the head from the girl as well. And when Weiss didn't stop, the wolf leaned her head in more as she relished in the feeling of Weiss's fingers running through her fur, massaging her head in a way she'd never felt outside of her back paws. She would be dismayed when Weiss stopped, removing her hand and returning to what she was doing. The wolf watched, curious of what Weiss found.

While it wasn't exactly what Weiss was hoping for, it was better than nothing. The contents of the crate included a number of small vials of dust, _this would be useful if I had Myrtenaster. _Although, even with the protective shelving the crate featured, some of the vials were cracked, and a few had lost their contents to the bottom of the crate, creating who knows what odd combination of elemental powers. She would make it a point to make certain this mixed dust would stay away from anything that would cause it to blow up, that's for sure.

As unhelpful as they were to her right now, Weiss was somewhat irked by the lack of organization of the vials. When she opened up the crate to look inside, they were just jumbled up randomly with no sense of order. So she took it upon herself to take out the vials one by one and separate them into their respective groups, something that was easy to do considering there were only four kinds of dust to sort through.

The wolf was curious about the vials, they each had a sheen to them that was alluring. The wolf found herself inching her snout closer to a pile of red vials, taking a whiff to see what they smelled like, but all she got was an itching sensation in her nostrils, and then…

"_Chhhh!" _The wolf sneezed, and the second she did, a small plume of fire blew out of her nose. She was horribly startled by what had happened, whimpering loudly as she buried her snout in the snow to cool it down.

Weiss too was shocked by what happened, and she was quick to console the poor animal. She couldn't help but laugh a little though, she knew the wolf would be okay; had she sniffed in too much Burn dust then there would be a problem, but the most the wolf would experience is some heat and some singed nostril hairs. Still, Weiss rubbed the wolf's snout to comfort her. Once she was sure the wolf was truly okay, she asked her, "There, do you feel better now?" She got her answer in the form of the wolf licking her hand. "_He-he-he,_ good."

Then the wolf remembered why else she came here: apart from making sure Weiss was safe, she was sure Weiss was also hungry. She took Weiss's sleeve by her teeth and tugged at it, trying to tell her to return to the cave. She was gentle about it, of course, not wanting to rip her jacket.

"What is it, girl?" Weiss asked as the wolf continued to tug at her sleeve.

The wolf let go of her shortly after, walking away and stopping just before the corner of the aircraft so she could look back at Weiss.

Then Weiss understood. "Oh...you want me to follow you," she said. She then asked the wolf, "Okay, are we going to the cave?"

"_Mrrrm,"_ the wolf responded.

Weiss nodded and said, "Okay, you go ahead, I just need to gather some things real quick."

The wolf accepted that, and took her leave while Weiss prepared to follow, disappearing behind the aircraft and back to the cave.

Weiss returned to what she was doing, having finished taking out every vial in the crate and now putting them back in a more organized manner. She didn't have any real reason why she was doing this other than she just wanted to. Either way, it would be easier to count up what all there was when she was done.

_Grrrrr..._her stomach began to growl. Weiss let go a soft moan not long after, bringing up her hand to rub her stomach. It then occurred to her that she hasn't eaten yet, and whatever it was she and the wolf ate last night...it didn't quite sit well with her. She hoped whatever the wolf brought back would be easier to handle.

Weiss decided now would have to be a good enough time to stop what she was doing and return to the cave. She grabbed a couple of vials of dust for herself, fastened the hatchet in her belt. Now she was ready, so she started walking.


End file.
